A WHAKATĀNE man has been sentenced to community work after taking a step too far in a feud with his neighbour.

Papa Heke, 27, had been feuding with the victim for some time and told Judge Louis Bidois the victim had “threatened his life”.

In retaliation, Heke entered his neighbour’s property and delivered a “nasty” threat, followed by an assault.

The victim then called the police.

Heke appeared in Whakatāne District Court on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to threatening to kill, possession of an offensive weapon in a public place – a knife on Brabant Street – and common assault.

He was initially charged with assault with intent to injure, but Police reduced the charge to common assault.

Judge Bidois said there was “no justification for violence”.

“If you have a problem with your neighbour, ignore them.

“If this happens again, you’ll go to jail,” he said.

Heke was sentenced to 180 hours of community work and nine months’ supervision.

He was ordered to pay $250 in emotional harm reparation.

Judge Bidois remitted Heke’s fines on an unrelated matter and converted them into a further 100 hours community work.

Other court appearances:

Assault with axe

A MAN has received community detention for an assault with a weapon conviction.

Shane Karekare was convicted of procuring cannabis, resisting police, assaulting a person via cutting and wilful damage.

The defendant approached the victim while holding an axe. He struck the vicitm with the axe, causing a gash in the side of their head, then proceeded to damage the victim’s car.

Later, Karekare was found with cannabis and resisted arrest in an unrelated incident in Rotorua.

In the Whakatāne District Court on Wednesday, his lawyer, Julia Fyers, said while Karekare had been on EM bail on the charges he had engaged in drug counselling and demonstrated compliance.

Judge Louis Bidois read a statement from one of Karekare’s counsellors citing a change in the defendant’s attitude and language since the incident.

Karekare was sentenced to four months’ community detention and ordered to pay $350 emotional harm reparation.

Kicked victim’s hand

PAUL Koops represented himself in a court charge arising from Masterton.

He pleaded guilty to common assault.

Judge Bidois said the summary of facts said Koops had a falling out with his flatmate who, after leaving the address, asked their neighbour to lock Koops out of the house.

Koops said this version of events was “lies”.

He said he had encountered the victim in the street, who had told him to “get away”.

She was holding something in her hand and he kicked it. He then took her cigarette and threw it onto the street.

When asked for his explanation, Koops said he was “having a bad day”.

He said he had the case transferred to Whakatāne because last time he visited the Masterton court he “almost got into an altercation”.

Judge Bidois said the victim suffered a bruised hand and missed a day of work due to the incident.

Koops was fined $300 and ordered to pay $200 emotional harm reparation.

Driving dangerously and under the influence

A WHAKATĀNE woman has been sentenced on a series of driving and drug related charges.

Hope Wilson, 22, was convicted on two counts of driving in a dangerous manner, procuring cannabis, possession of a bong used for cannabis and driving with cannabis in her system.

She was twice caught driving dangerously on State Highway 30.

Judge Bidois said there had been a neuropsychiatrist assessment, which said Wilson had brain injuries following a previous high-speed crash unrelated to these charges.

Wilson was sentenced to supervision for nine months and disqualified from driving for nine months.

She was fined $400 for driving with a qualifying drug in her blood, $200 for possession of the bong, and $200 for procuring cannabis.

There was an order for forfeiture of the bong.

She has yet to plea on further charges of driving dangerously, procuring cannabis and possession of a pipe for cannabis from a separate incident in which she was driving from Taupō to Rotorua.

On these charges, she has been remanded for a case review in Rotorua District Court on November 6.

Another nominal date set for indecent assault charge

TIKOWALE Rabitu has received a further nominal date to set a date for his judge-alone trial on two counts of common assault and indecent assault of a female over the age of 16.

One common assault and the indecent assault involve the same complainant.

His lawyer, Leonard Hemi, said the trial would need two days.

Judge Bidois remanded the matter until October 16 when the court would try again to book the trial.

Rabitu’s attendance was excused on this date, and at the upcoming nominal date.

Assault of grandmother

A WOMAN has been sentenced to prison after assaulting her grandmother.

Jaydin Honatana, 24, was convicted of assault of a person in a family relationship and threatening to kill.

Judge Bidois said this offending caused a “breach of trust” as the victim was Honatana’s grandmother.

The victim impact statement read that Honatana’s grandmother had suffered a loss of appetite as well as physical and emotional harm caused from the incident.

He sentenced her to 10 months’ in prison and said her time spent in custody would be credited to her.

“That should see you released straight away,” Judge Bidois said.

More changes added

A TE TEKO man faces two further charges in relation to an assault on store workers.

Mack Te Ua was initially charged in May with two counts of assaulting with intent to injure, followed by a wilful trespass onto the scene of the incident a week later.

While on bail,  Te Ua has been further charged with assault, intentional damage to two windows and threatening to injure from an incident on September 4.

He was arrested for these charges on September 12, during which he assaulted a police officer and escaped from custody.

Judge Bidois refused to grant Te Ua bail due to the two instances of alleged offending on bail.

He was remanded until October 23 for case review.

EM bail granted

A WHAKATĀNE man has been granted electronically monitored bail following firearm and assault charges.

Mana Taitapanui, 18, appeared on charges of disorderly behaviour, wounds with intent to injure, discharging a firearm to intimidate, aggravated robbery and injuring with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Judge Louis Bidois said the application for electronically monitored bail was initially opposed by police, but he granted the application.

“Comply with your EM bail, stay out of trouble and complete as much counselling as possible,” Judge Bidois told Taitapanui.

Bail breach due to lost dog

JAMIE Russel appeared in court on a breach of bail following a hunting mishap.

He was on bail for a charge of burglary of property valued over $1000.

Duty lawyer Whare Hika said the defendant had been hunting during the day with a friend. His friend’s dog went missing in the evening, which he helped look for.

His daughter called him and informed him the police had been to the house, at which point Russel said he returned to his bail address 37 minutes past his curfew.

Judge Bidois told Russel to “not breach again”.

“It’s your responsibility to be home in those hours. This is a serious charge.”

Russel’s assigned lawyer was scheduled to be away for the month, so Judge Bidois remanded the defendant until October 23.

Not guilty pleas to all charges

AN Ōpōtiki man has pleaded not guilty to a range of assault and intimidation charges.

Nathan Collier, 21, was charged with assault of a person in a family relationship, impeding breathing and blood circulation, assaulting police, threatening to stab, possession of an offensive weapon and unlawfully possessing ammunition.

The alleged weapon was a wooden bat with a nail in it, alongside possession of two rounds of 308 ammunition.

His lawyer, Rebecca Plunket, said Collier pleaded not guilty to all charges.

He was remanded until November 6 for case review.

Strangulation, assault and immigration

A TE TEKO man is facing an array of charges involving assault and immigration.

Ravdeep Sodhi, 31, has been charged with injuring with intent to injure, impeding a person’s breathing and blood circulation and assault with intent to injure. The former two charges involve the same complainant.

His lawyer told the court Sodhi was also facing immigration charges in Tauranga on November 7.

The crown laid an application the day before this court date to join the trial matters.

Sodhi was remanded until October 16 for further case review, and his attendance was excused for that date.

Fourth drink-driving conviction

A MAN has been sentenced to community work after receiving his fourth drink-driving conviction.

Junior Tati Paul, 60, was convicted of driving with excess breath alcohol.

Judge Bidois told the court Paul had been found driving with 1017 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit for driving is 250mcg.

For his three previous convictions he had been fined and disqualified, so Judge Bidois said there needed to be an escalation for his current sentence.

Paul was sentenced to 140 hours of community work and 12 months supervision, and was indefinitely disqualified from driving.